Powwow Highway

1989

Adventure / Drama

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 9 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 2201 2.2K

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Plot summary

Two Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.

Director

Jonathan Wacks Photo
Jonathan Wacks

Top cast

Gary Farmer Photo
Gary Farmer as Philbert Bono
Graham Greene Photo
Graham Greene as Vietnam Vet
Sam Vlahos Photo
Sam Vlahos as Chief Joseph
Rodney A. Grant Photo
Rodney A. Grant as Brave on Horse
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
837.74 MB
1280*692
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 31 min
Seeds 1
1.52 GB
1920*1038
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 31 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gavin6942 7 / 10

A Fair Look at Native Life

Depicts the struggles of reservation-dwelling Native Americans in the North Central United States. The main character is an introspective and lovable person in a process of seeking pride and identity through traditional and mystical means of gathering power. His high school friend, who is a Vietnam War Veteran, is exerting power as a highly principled social activist, using a modern rational materialist adversarial model of progress.There really are not that many movies out there about reservation life, at least very few that come to mind. This one is excellent, however. Not just because it is a really good movie (which it is), but because of the way it portrays the characters.It would be much too easy to paint the Cheyenne as the good guys and the "white man" as the bad guy. This is not the case. Certainly, we feel bad for the way big business wants to strip the natives of resources... but the natives are shown as less than perfect, too. Is getting ripped off bad? Of course. But does that make it acceptable to smash a store and beat a store owner? No.
Reviewed by chrichtonsworld 8 / 10

Entertaining and educational drama

This movie was part of a special I saw on a German channel! Not expecting much I was completely surprised how good this drama was! The story is not that difficult or special but the way it is presented you just have to love it! It is a mix of drama and humor! Like other reviewers I praise the performance of Gary Farmer! But I also want to mention the role A. Martinez is playing! The way he shows his frustration and anger and at the same time be sympathetic is difficult to do! But he pulls it off! There are a lot of matters that don't get the attention when it comes to the United States! The native Americans (indians) ore one of them! As an European I don't know much about their situation! This movie gave me insight in a very entertaining way! From what I have seen on the screen concerning Native Americans (indians) they posses a great sense of humor! Considering what they have been through and what is happening to them now that is simply amazing! I love these kind of stories because they are down to earth and in this case also very funny!
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